The German War, Nicholas Stargardt
The German War, Nicholas Stargardt
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The German War
A Nation under Arms, 1939–1945; Citizens and Soldiers

Author: Nicholas Stargardt

Narrator: Michael Kramer

Unabridged: 24 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/12/2016

Synopsis

A major new history of the Third Reich that explores the German psyche.As early as 1941, Allied victory in World War II seemed all but assured. How and why, then, did the Germans prolong the barbaric conflict for three and a half more years?In The German War, acclaimed historian Nicholas Stargardt draws on an extraordinary range of primary source materials—personal diaries, court records, and military correspondence—to answer this question. He offers an unprecedented portrait of wartime Germany, bringing the hopes and expectations of the German people—from infantrymen and tank commanders on the Eastern Front to civilians on the home front—to vivid life. While most historians identify the German defeat at Stalingrad as the moment when the average German citizen turned against the war effort, Stargardt demonstrates that the Wehrmacht in fact retained the staunch support of the patriotic German populace until the bitter end.Astonishing in its breadth and humanity, The German War is a groundbreaking new interpretation of what drove the Germans to fight—and keep fighting—for a lost cause.

About Nicholas Stargardt

Nicholas Stargardt is a professor of modern European history at Magdalen College, Oxford, and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is the author of Witnesses of War: Children’s Lives under the Nazis, which was the first work to show how children experienced the Second World War under the Nazis, exploring the widely divergent experiences of German and Jewish, Polish and Czech, Sinti and the disabled children. He lives in Oxford, England.

About Michael Kramer

Michael Kramer is an award-winning narrator (Never Split the Difference, The Wheel of Time) who records at his home studio in Maryland.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Maciek on February 06, 2016

It may be good to have power based on arms, but it is better and more joyful to win and to keep the hearts of the people. -Joseph Goebbels, speaking in Triumph of the Will World War 2 began with German invasion of Poland - but in 1939 most Germans had a different view; they perceived the war as a......more

Goodreads review by Anthony on October 25, 2023

Dark Hopes and Expectations. Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP made one thing clear at the start of the Second World War, that there would never be any surrender and no repeat of 1918. A huge part of the reason for Hitler going to war in 1939 was to overturn the humiliation of the German collapse at the end......more

Goodreads review by Майя on September 19, 2022

Before, it was only a view from the outside. I am one of many for whom the Second World War was for a long time the Great Patriotic War, in which the Soviet people defeated the Nazi invaders. After that, an Anglo-American view of the events of that time was added, there is a lot of excellent English......more

Goodreads review by Tim on September 24, 2018

The second world war from a German perspective in the form of letters and diary entries from ordinary people. The overriding impression is how eagerly an entire civilised nation become so stupid, self-righteous and brainwashed. Even the individuals who weren't Nazis bought the idea that Germany was......more

Goodreads review by Brian on October 23, 2023

Stargardt's massive survey of correspondence among ordinary Germans during WWII gives a new level of objectivity on how people experienced the war. And the thing that struck me most was how familiar it all sounded. The tendency to see conflicts as caused by others. The willingness to embrace great m......more

Quotes

“Stargardt’s…gracefully written The German War offers by far the most comprehensive and readable guide to these issues…This is splendid scholarship…Anyone interested in National Socialist Germany, World War II, and the many murderous regimes that still disfigure the earth should relish The German War.” Wall Street Journal

“A dramatic look at the lives of ordinary German men and women during World War II.” New York Times Book Review

“Exhaustive…A first-rate historical read.” Washington Times

“The German War by Nicholas Stargardt is a riveting account of how…ordinary Germans experienced and sustained the war.” Daily Telegraph (London)

“[Stargardt’s] method of using letters and diaries of ordinary Germans yields unexpected insights, both into the Germans’ humanity and their turn to barbarism.” Economist

“In this gut-wrenching work…Stargardt…examines the German experience during WWII. His extraordinarily deep and wide research allows him to fill in an otherwise solid history of the war with intimate, newly unearthed recollections of harrowing service on the battlefield and homefront. Such is the complexity of human nature that, after millions of deaths, massive destruction, and unbelievable ‘psychological shock waves,’ Germans maintained their fierce nationalism and took pride in their ability to endure individually and collectively…Stargardt has produced a brilliant, sobering work.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Important…Stargardt provides a vital and necessary addition to the World War II canon that will appeal to World War II buffs and anyone with an interest in twentieth-century German history.” Library Journal

“[A] massive but thorough meditation…A well-researched, unsettling social history of war that will prove deeply thought-provoking—even worrying—for readers who wonder what they might have done under the same circumstances.” Kirkus Reviews

Awards

  • New York Times   Bestseller
  • Amazon.com Bestseller
  • New York Times Book Review Notable Book
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